Infinity MPG t-shirt by Noisebot (don’t worry, I’m not getting any kickbacks if you buy this t-shirt)

I had owned a car for most of my adult life – ever since I acquired my driver’s permit in 1996. After moving to Toronto in 2002, my car mostly sat in the garage collecting dust, but conveniently provided me the means to do large grocery store runs, transport myself to hockey games, and leave the city on the occasional weekend.

Although I primarily get around by bicycle, it wasn’t until October 2010 that I decided to completely rid myself of car ownership. The decision was easy due to the car sharing services that have exploded here in Toronto. I can have a car almost anytime I want it, often last minute, for a nominal fee of less than $10 per hour (this hourly fee includes fuel, insurance and usage).

Furthermore, I am now able to rent out my condo parking space to a neighbour for $125/month. Doing some simple math: For the $125 I get each month for the parking space, I can use a car sharing car for 3 hours each week without having to pay a penny out of my pocket.

Over the past 8 months of not owning a car, I have spent an average of $104.60 each month on car sharing. Therefore, I have seen a net profit of $183.62 over the 8 months. Admittedly, we did rent a car a couple of weekends to leave the city, so I think it’s fair to say I broke even.

(Note: This excludes the taxis we took to and from the hospital when my wife gave birth to our recent newborn, but even if I still had my car we would have paid parking fees at the hospital similar to the taxi fees).

Prior to 8 months ago, I was paying $2,200 each year just for auto insurance. So immediately off the bat I’m saving $2,200 a year. The average cost of ownership in the United States is $6,000 to $8,000 a year. I didn’t drive my car much when I had it, so I would say my car cost somewhere between $4,000-$5,000 a year to operate (including insurance, gas, oil changes, registration fees and repairs).

I sold the car for $2,500 and bought an $800 bike. Since my parking space pays for my weekend rentals and car sharing, it’s safe to say that I have about $5,000 in my pocket that I wouldn’t otherwise have had.

$5,000 in just 8 months. With no material detriment to my lifestyle. Sure, I need to book a car in advance when I need one instead of simply going down my elevator, but I can do it from my phone – and unless it’s 3PM on a Saturday afternoon, I can almost always do it last minute.

Living car-free is becoming more of a reality for North Americans. It usually requires a conscious decision to live in a more urban setting where car sharing services thrive, and bicycles, public transit or walking can be your primary mode of daily transportation.

A common excuse I hear from friends and acquaintances is that they can’t afford to live in the inner city. Sounds like a reasonable excuse, but then I ask them how much they paid for their house in the burbs. More often than not, they paid more for their house than I paid for my condo.

The difference is space. They have several rooms in their house that are used primarily for storing material things that they bought to fill their oversized house. Living in a smaller space discourages you from buying things you don’t need.

The same applies to those who rent. You can find affordable rental units in the city if you look for it.

And getting rid of your car (or at the very least, ditching your second car) would save you substantial money. Here are 5 ways I’d rather spend the $5,000 that I’ve saved:

Great post and awesome t-shirt. Keep on doing what you’re doing…it’s very inspiring and motivating. Good job.

Darryl

http://www.theurbancountry.com James Schwartz

Thanks Darryl!

http://lovingthebike.com/ Darryl is Loving the Bike

Great post and awesome t-shirt. Keep on doing what you’re doing…it’s very inspiring and motivating. Good job.

Darryl

http://www.theurbancountry.com/ James Schwartz

Thanks Darryl!

http://twitter.com/BikeBikeYYC BikeBike Inc.

Great post!

I went carfree in Calgary about 18 months ago and I can say definitively – there is no going back for me. Aside from the economic savings, which are substantial, the biggest benefit I have experienced is a “downsizing” of the world I live in. Calgary is a very spread out city but for me and my family Calgary is really about 10km in diameter. Everything we need for services, fun, recreation is all within that circle and it makes it seem like we live in a small town.

In about 18 more months the new LRT line will open with a station placed 300m from my home – that will be a nice treat too!

http://twitter.com/BikeBikeYYC sean carter

Great post!

I went carfree in Calgary about 18 months ago and I can say definitively – there is no going back for me. Aside from the economic savings, which are substantial, the biggest benefit I have experienced is a “downsizing” of the world I live in. Calgary is a very spread out city but for me and my family Calgary is really about 10km in diameter. Everything we need for services, fun, recreation is all within that circle and it makes it seem like we live in a small town.

In about 18 more months the new LRT line will open with a station placed 300m from my home – that will be a nice treat too!

JenHendriks

As we get ready for our second child we briefly debated getting a car to make errands a little easier until the bean is big enough to handle the chariot (how we get around with our 3 year old)

The costs and stress don’t even come close to the benefits to shopping locally or even shopping alone with the bike. 1 kid or 2. Going carless makes us fitter and richer.

My daughter loves her bike and is ready to enjoy the Trail a Bike!

JenH

As we get ready for our second child we briefly debated getting a car to make errands a little easier until the bean is big enough to handle the chariot (how we get around with our 3 year old)

The costs and stress don’t even come close to the benefits to shopping locally or even shopping alone with the bike. 1 kid or 2. Going carless makes us fitter and richer.

My daughter loves her bike and is ready to enjoy the Trail a Bike!

Jesse

Great accounting of the detailed numbers. I think about this a lot too. We just paid some $600 for the 120K mile maintenance on our one car, and another $350 for another six months of insurance. In a few months I’ll need to replace the rear struts and sway bars for another $700 or so. After that I don’t feel bad about spending a lot for my Pashley Roadster!

Right now I commute by bicycle most days, with some use of the bus in extreme rain or snow. My wife uses our car to take my son to preschool. I keep wondering if once my son is in grade school and taking a school bus, we could get away with selling the car and just using car sharing, taxis, and rental cars when necessary. The closest car sharing hub from my house is 2 miles away right now, but we might move closer to the city center in a few years (depending on where my son ends up attending school), so perhaps it will be a more feasible choice then. It seems like a nice idea to me, to have all these options for getting around without being tied to the expense of car ownership, but I think we would need to have easy and ready access to a car and being 2 miles from the car share car would not cut it for my wife. We live in Buffalo, which is making great strides in the right direction (e.g., our local non-profit car sharing service just started up a year or two ago) but is still a city that is laid out in a way where not having your own personal car would just be too inconvenient, especially for families. (Which is rather sad considering 30% of the households in the city do not own a car.)

Bisdmike

30% do not own a car? Fabtastic.
I expect a lot of them are low-income, but I wonder what could be achieved if the higher-income families directed more of their spending towards other things than petroleum purchase, insurance demands, repair costs, accessory replacement costs (tires, etc), and other associated costs?

Jesse

Great accounting of the detailed numbers. I think about this a lot too. We just paid some $600 for the 120K mile maintenance on our one car, and another $350 for another six months of insurance. In a few months I’ll need to replace the rear struts and sway bars for another $700 or so. After that I don’t feel bad about spending a lot for my Pashley Roadster!

Right now I commute by bicycle most days, with some use of the bus in extreme rain or snow. My wife uses our car to take my son to preschool. I keep wondering if once my son is in grade school and taking a school bus, we could get away with selling the car and just using car sharing, taxis, and rental cars when necessary. The closest car sharing hub from my house is 2 miles away right now, but we might move closer to the city center in a few years (depending on where my son ends up attending school), so perhaps it will be a more feasible choice then. It seems like a nice idea to me, to have all these options for getting around without being tied to the expense of car ownership, but I think we would need to have easy and ready access to a car and being 2 miles from the car share car would not cut it for my wife. We live in Buffalo, which is making great strides in the right direction (e.g., our local non-profit car sharing service just started up a year or two ago) but is still a city that is laid out in a way where not having your own personal car would just be too inconvenient, especially for families. (Which is rather sad considering 30% of the households in the city do not own a car.)

kfg

“paying $2,200 each year”

About what I’ve got into my Rivendell. There are always those who find out and respond, “You paid WHAT for bike?”

I point out that with what I’m not paying in auto insurance alone I could buy a new one each year, and that the money does not just get pissed down some black hole of an insurance executive’s trip to the Bahamas; I retain capital value in the bike.

Or I could just keep the one and start going to the Bahamas to ride it.

On the other hand, if you’re trying to get an infinite number of miles per gallon, you’re going to starve to death. It’s more like 60 mpg (full fat). Still not bad, especially considering the exercise you get. I don’t belong to a gym, because by the time I get there (up the gorge on a fixed), I’ve already had my workout.

kfg

“paying $2,200 each year”

About what I’ve got into my Rivendell. There are always those who find out and respond, “You paid WHAT for bike?”

I point out that with what I’m not paying in auto insurance alone I could buy a new one each year, and that the money does not just get pissed down some black hole of an insurance executive’s trip to the Bahamas; I retain capital value in the bike.

Or I could just keep the one and start going to the Bahamas to ride it.

On the other hand, if you’re trying to get an infinite number of miles per gallon, you’re going to starve to death. It’s more like 60 mpg (full fat). Still not bad, especially considering the exercise you get. I don’t belong to a gym, because by the time I get there (up the gorge on a fixed), I’ve already had my workout.

Paddyanne

A very inspirational and informative read. Thank you!

Paddyanne

A very inspirational and informative read. Thank you!

Tkeen

Interesting post – the T-shirt reminded me of the time when I was cycling on Church St. and some guy asked me jokingly what sort of mileage I get. Curious, I checked the Internet to find out.
For someone of my size (6’1″, about 200lbs) the website I found gave a figure of 745 calories/hour for moderate cycling at 12 13mph. That works out to 57-63 calories per mile. Numbers for light cycling under 10mph are half that. The URL with all the figures is http://www.nutristrategy.com/activitylist.htm. More accurate, but not as catchy a T-Shirt.

Surprised at how low the figures are. No wonder I have trouble losing weight!

Tkeen

Interesting post – the T-shirt reminded me of the time when I was cycling on Church St. and some guy asked me jokingly what sort of mileage I get. Curious, I checked the Internet to find out.For someone of my size (6’1″, about 200lbs) the website I found gave a figure of 745 calories/hour for moderate cycling at 12 13mph. That works out to 57-63 calories per mile. Numbers for light cycling under 10mph are half that. The URL with all the figures is http://www.nutristrategy.com/activitylist.htm. More accurate, but not as catchy a T-Shirt.

Surprised at how low the figures are. No wonder I have trouble losing weight!

http://profiles.google.com/toddedelman1 Todd Edelman

Another excellent and fairly clear argument for sharing vs. owning. But just a few comments:
1 – As others have mentioned, the T-shirt is not really accurate. Plus it is very smug — reminds me of something they would have some simplistic “green” cartoon character wear.
2 – Ownership requires space, so by selling your parking space you are just enabling someone else’s ownership. I am not sure how figured out the price — suppose just based on the market. But of course you paid more for the condo in the first place — sure you would not want to just give it away but it’s still just a waste. And it’s too much for the city to pay you to e.g. fill it with plants. So…. where do bikes gets parked at your condo? Maybe: http://www.fietshangar.nl/bookcms/cms/cms_module/index.php?obj_id=640 or http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6NUoSrb7fU
3 – http://Www.autoshare.ca, a carshare operator in Toronto, is one of the few around the world which explicitly makes provision for carriage of larger dogs outside of crates. They do this by keeping a small part of the fleet dogfree, or the reverse (a small part of the fleet can have dogs in it).
4 – Related to 2, above, I wonder how many of your neighbours have bikes they use rarely or would like to use a bike occasionally but cannot justify the cost or security risk.
5 – OK, here is my best idea: Terminate the lease with the current renter of the parking space and see if you can rent it to… a carshare operator!! If the spaces in your condo lot can only be used by residents then there are probably enough of them (reading your blog) to justify locating a car there.

http://www.theurbancountry.com James Schwartz

Todd, the price that I’m charging for my parking space is based on market demand, yes. Offering my parking space to use for car sharing services is a great idea, and indeed better than encouraging a wealthy neighbour to own multiple cars. It is possible that Autoshare or ZipCar would be willing to entertain this, as they have done it in other buildings. The only issue specifically with my building is that it’s only 8 floors, so there may not be enough people in the building to warrant a car sharing vehicle.

Agreed that the pet provisions for Autoshare are great (and unique). When I first started using Autoshare, I didn’t realize there were rules about pets and I brought my dog with me every time I took a car (because I was so used to doing this when I owned a car). I quickly found out that only certain cars allow pets, and even then, you still need to bring a blanket or something to prevent pet hair from being left in the car.

http://www.joyofbicyclecommuting.com Micheal Blue

What is written in this post is valid for people who don’t mind spending most of their lives in the city. There are people (like me) who need to get out of the city into real nature during the weekend. As practical public transit for this purpose is nonexistent in the Greater Toronto Area, the only way to do it is by car. Renting a car for ten bucks per hour may be cheap for a three hour rental, but going for a day trip would escalate the price and wouldn’t be cheaper than owning a reliable car. As you can tell I own a car, though I use it quite seldom – pretty much only for the weekend out-of-city trips. Paying 2200 bucks per year for insurance + some money for maintenance (which is very little as it’s a reliable car) is not more than renting a car for a full day every weekend and possibly for vacations. Note: to bike from my place to
outside of the Toronto area is way too far for practical transportation.

http://www.theurbancountry.com James Schwartz

Michael, I use Autoshare for short trips, but leaving the city for a weekend is indeed a different can of worms. I normally rent a car for $35 a day. Of course, doing this every weekend would cost about $3600 a year, so it wouldn’t be worth it. But if you leave the city once every month or so, then it might make it worthwhile to consider. Though there are a host of other factors to consider (e.g. how far away is the rental shop, etc). Cheers.

Michael

Consider, then, your cost/kilometer of use. I hear this argument often, even here in P.E.I. where “real nature” is not that far from anyone, and still can’t fathom how we are sucked into vehicle ownership and overuse.
Please don’t take this response negatively. I simply regard ours as a convenience-oriented society, and we create all kinds of excuses to keep us in the embrace of vehicle ownership, but separation is not impossible.
Are there no car-pool options with friends? Are there no bus options? Are there no train options to smaller centres from which other final-distance transport is possible?
As for rental costs, hourly rate is seldom a multiplying factor; Vancouver’s Smart Car rental system works out to $12+change/hour but maxes out at $69+change/day.

http://www.joyofbicyclecommuting.com/ Micheal Blue

What is written in this post is valid for people who don’t mind spending most of their lives in the city. There are people (like me) who need to get out of the city into real nature during the weekend. As practical public transit for this purpose is nonexistent in the Greater Toronto Area, the only way to do it is by car. Renting a car for ten bucks per hour may be cheap for a three hour rental, but going for a day trip would escalate the price and wouldn’t be cheaper than owning a reliable car. As you can tell I own a car, though I use it quite seldom – pretty much only for the weekend out-of-city trips. Paying 2200 bucks per year for insurance + some money for maintenance (which is very little as it’s a reliable car) is not more than renting a car for a full day every weekend and possibly for vacations. Note: to bike from my place to outside of the Toronto area is way too far for practical transportation.

http://www.theurbancountry.com/ James Schwartz

Todd, the price that I’m charging for my parking space is based on market demand, yes. Offering my parking space to use for car sharing services is a great idea, and indeed better than encouraging a wealthy neighbour to own multiple cars. It is possible that Autoshare or ZipCar would be willing to entertain this, as they have done it in other buildings. The only issue specifically with my building is that it’s only 8 floors, so there may not be enough people in the building to warrant a car sharing vehicle.

Agreed that the pet provisions for Autoshare are great (and unique). When I first started using Autoshare, I didn’t realize there were rules about pets and I brought my dog with me every time I took a car (because I was so used to doing this when I owned a car). I quickly found out that only certain cars allow pets, and even then, you still need to bring a blanket or something to prevent pet hair from being left in the car.

http://www.theurbancountry.com/ James Schwartz

Michael, I use Autoshare for short trips, but leaving the city for a weekend is indeed a different can of worms. I normally rent a car for $35 a day. Of course, doing this every weekend would cost about $3600 a year, so it wouldn’t be worth it. But if you leave the city once every month or so, then it might make it worthwhile to consider. Though there are a host of other factors to consider (e.g. how far away is the rental shop, etc). Cheers.

I have been car-free for about 2 years now and I really have no desire to acquire one =) I am much healthier than I was two years ago, and I am actually able to save money instead blowing it out on insurance that would not cover my old car… And as well as reducing pollution which is a great plus for everyone around =D

I have been car-free for about 2 years now and I really have no desire to acquire one =) I am much healthier than I was two years ago, and I am actually able to save money instead blowing it out on insurance that would not cover my old car… And as well as reducing pollution which is a great plus for everyone around =D

Gclarke

Here’s a little story. The U.S. has something called “The Bicycle Commuter Act” that allows employers to offer $20 per month to employees who regularly cycle to work to be used for anything bike related (purchase, improvements, repairs, …). Good so far right!

Here’s the bad news. The program is completely voluntary. There’s no requirement that employers offer this plan and there is no requirement to maintain state or national statictics on participation. Little loop hole.

But $20 is $20 (or $240 a year) so I asked my employer to participate and their response was it would be “an administrative burden” to do this for one person and unless there were at least 10 employees in the program, forget it.

Where I work I’m the only bike commuter. But I want my $20 on principle. So here’s what we came up with. We have a “Y” (YMCA) two blocks away and they offer a corporate membership discount which my company agreed to offer since it would benefit all employees. Since I’m a member anyway and I grab my shower there each morning, the corporate discount more than made up for the $20.

I guess this is a half-win. My employer did recognize the value of offering a healthy life style option but they failed to recognize the value of commuting by bike.

BTW: I’m a VP in the company and I was asked if biking to work was appropriate for my position … funny right?

Gclarke

Here’s a little story. The U.S. has something called “The Bicycle Commuter Act” that allows employers to offer $20 per month to employees who regularly cycle to work to be used for anything bike related (purchase, improvements, repairs, …). Good so far right!

Here’s the bad news. The program is completely voluntary. There’s no requirement that employers offer this plan and there is no requirement to maintain state or national statictics on participation. Little loop hole.

But $20 is $20 (or $240 a year) so I asked my employer to participate and their response was it would be “an administrative burden” to do this for one person and unless there were at least 10 employees in the program, forget it.

Where I work I’m the only bike commuter. But I want my $20 on principle. So here’s what we came up with. We have a “Y” (YMCA) two blocks away and they offer a corporate membership discount which my company agreed to offer since it would benefit all employees. Since I’m a member anyway and I grab my shower there each morning, the corporate discount more than made up for the $20.

I guess this is a half-win. My employer did recognize the value of offering a healthy life style option but they failed to recognize the value of commuting by bike.

BTW: I’m a VP in the company and I was asked if biking to work was appropriate for my position … funny right?

Gclarke

Here’s another way to enhance the benefits of biking. Bicycle Benefits http://www.bicyclebenefits.org/ is a concept where a business provides a reward for bikers. I’m not sure how the business model works but it sounds interesting.

Gclarke

Here’s another way to enhance the benefits of biking. Bicycle Benefits http://www.bicyclebenefits.org/ is a concept where a business provides a reward for bikers. I’m not sure how the business model works but it sounds interesting.

I’ve been cycling for the past 19 yrs. But what the blog post doesn’t indicate, that I was living in a car-free home for first 14 yrs. of my life (yes, I’ve been around in life for awhile. Cycling keeps me in shape/looking young.) Parents too poor to afford a car. But we did live in downtown Waterloo, close to schools, services, shopping and public transit.

A family of 6 children…so imagine that in a small Ontario city (at that time).

My partner used to drive alot for his job in his former career because of business trips across North America, but he has been now car-free for last 20 yrs.

We are both ex-Torontonians, know cycling routes very well since he was one of the lead cycling advocates there. I lived there for over 20 years and was cycling there from early 1990′s to early 2000′s.

I’ve been cycling for the past 19 yrs. But what the blog post doesn’t indicate, that I was living in a car-free home for first 14 yrs. of my life (yes, I’ve been around in life for awhile. Cycling keeps me in shape/looking young.) Parents too poor to afford a car. But we did live in downtown Waterloo, close to schools, services, shopping and public transit.

A family of 6 children…so imagine that in a small Ontario city (at that time).

My partner used to drive alot for his job in his former career because of business trips across North America, but he has been now car-free for last 20 yrs.

We are both ex-Torontonians, know cycling routes very well since he was one of the lead cycling advocates there. I lived there for over 20 years and was cycling there from early 1990′s to early 2000′s.

http://cyclewriteblog.wordpress.com Jean

Acutally, I believe there are alot of people who live a car-free life for many years: they just don’t blog nor write/speak English. But they are poor. Toronto has enough residents who are car-free –it’s obvious when there is a transit strike.

http://cyclewriteblog.wordpress.com/ Jean

Acutally, I believe there are alot of people who live a car-free life for many years: they just don’t blog nor write/speak English. But they are poor. Toronto has enough residents who are car-free –it’s obvious when there is a transit strike.

P. Brownell

Hello James,
Good article. I’d like to share some interesting info about a new bike trail in Charleston, South Carolina, actually on James Island…Fort Johnson Road. We have very few bike lanes and walking lanes in Charleston, but this new bike trail will provide a good precedent, and likely will add strength to future expansion of bike trails for commuters and sports folks. FYI
PB

P. Brownell

Hello James,Good article. I’d like to share some interesting info about a new bike trail in Charleston, South Carolina, actually on James Island…Fort Johnson Road. We have very few bike lanes and walking lanes in Charleston, but this new bike trail will provide a good precedent, and likely will add strength to future expansion of bike trails for commuters and sports folks. FYIPB

Michael

Lost my insurance to a $37 late payment while I was out of work and doing chemo treatments 8 years ago.
I held onto the vehicle for five years, but never really looked back. I do hitch-hike, which happens to be illegal here and with understandable concerns, and do borrow a friend’s truck when needed (fill with fuel for compensation) but have accepted a mindset that would make David Suzuki proud (always biked a lot, anyway, including a cross-continent tour, but now do it for just about everything). 10km to the nearest city, 10-30km to friends and other services and regular destinations; takes time, yes, but still better than “spending money we ain’t go” as Stompin’ Tom would say.
I would still like to have a vehicle, somthing that can be converted from recreational vehicle to heavy-duty transport to gaz-mizerly personal transport when it is raining or snowy, but find it difficult to ultimately justify.
I do encourage others, but know that the auto-culture brainwashing is a difficult whirlpool to escape from.

Michael

Lost my insurance to a $37 late payment while I was out of work and doing chemo treatments 8 years ago.I held onto the vehicle for five years, but never really looked back. I do hitch-hike, which happens to be illegal here and with understandable concerns, and do borrow a friend’s truck when needed (fill with fuel for compensation) but have accepted a mindset that would make David Suzuki proud (always biked a lot, anyway, including a cross-continent tour, but now do it for just about everything). 10km to the nearest city, 10-30km to friends and other services and regular destinations; takes time, yes, but still better than “spending money we ain’t go” as Stompin’ Tom would say.I would still like to have a vehicle, somthing that can be converted from recreational vehicle to heavy-duty transport to gaz-mizerly personal transport when it is raining or snowy, but find it difficult to ultimately justify.I do encourage others, but know that the auto-culture brainwashing is a difficult whirlpool to escape from.

Bisdmike

30% do not own a car? Fabtastic.I expect a lot of them are low-income, but I wonder what could be achieved if the higher-income families directed more of their spending towards other things than petroleum purchase, insurance demands, repair costs, accessory replacement costs (tires, etc), and other associated costs?

http://www.torontostarlimo.ca/ Limousine Services in Toronto

Surprised at how low the figures are

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Surprised at how low the figures are

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http://twitter.com/lmtleasing Lone Mountain Truck Leasing

It usually takes a conscious decision to live car-sharing services in a thriving urban environment, cycling, public transport or on foot can be your main mode of daily transportation.

http://twitter.com/lmtleasing Lone Mountain Truck Leasing

It usually takes a conscious decision to live car-sharing services in a thriving urban environment, cycling, public transport or on foot can be your main mode of daily transportation.

Monty Pennington

A buddy of mine that is involved in construction tells e that it’s really great that they have access to services like perth skip hire whenever they’re in a pinch and need the extra muscle to move objects.